Day 1: June 6-We have a bit of a surprise!

Hello all!  I'm writing this from the hallway at the hostel, because the room Erin and I are sharing is 90 degrees!  Just hoping it cools off enough that we can get a little bit of sleep.  We have had a very busy day, and are finally starting to wind down.  A bit of logistics has been needed in getting showers situated for the girls, thanks to construction on one of the women's restrooms at the hostel. 
Our flight was uneventful, thankfully.  We got to Midway without any problems and got all the bags situated, only to run into an issue with getting the CTA tickets for the next three days.  After a little bit of work and an enormous amount of help from the CTA employees, we got the kids on the L and into the city. 
The hostel is nice, minus the few little issues.  But I can't complain too much, as it is a roof over our heads and we get free breakfast every morning!
After dropping the bags off, we headed to Panera to grab a quick lunch and then off we went to the Sky Deck at the Sears (Willis) Tower.  The kids were really excited adn we couldn't have gotten a much better day for being on the 103rd story of the tower.  It was clear and sunny.  We went out on the glass decks and looked straight down at the city and the river 103 stories below us.  It was an awesome sight and the kids were running back and forth taking picture after picture.  It is so fun to see their faces light up and listen to them talk back and forth and try to plan out what picture or pose to do next.  I feel truly honored to be able to experience this city with all of them!
My family group took a picture in one of the sky decks, and I will have to share the photo on here and facebook when I get back to the office.  It turned out so well!   They made a mad dash throught the gift shop before we headed off to dinner at Giordanos down the street. 
True Chicago style stuffed pizza was on tap for dinner tonight.  And it did not disappoint!  We orded nine pizzas and they managed to put most of it away.  I had a piece and a half and was stuffed! 
Following dinner, we told the kids we were going to be skipping the planned shopping excursion on the Magnificent Mile and heading to hear a Univeristy of Chicago history professor give a lecture on the history of Chicago.  We had been telling them this lovely story all day, so they were truly not impressed with us by the time dinner rolled around.  I can understand why though- who would want to listen to a history professor give a lecture when you could be checking out cool stores and buying things.  But they went along with it and followed us to the Briar Street Theatre.  Now, if you want to go Google the theatre in Chicago, you will find that the Briar Street Theatre doesn't actually do history lectures, but is home to a permanent Blue Man Group show.  So, as a big surprise for the kids, we got tickets to see the Blue Man Group, with seats in the poncho section.  It was priceless seeing their faces and listening to the screams and shouts of joy (I will be the first to admit that I may have been the loudest in the screaming department...I love a good surprise)!!  The show, was nothing short of great!  It was an hour and a half of great entertainment.  I think all the kids had fun, and I know the adults had fun. 
And now, we are back at the hostel, and I think they are all finally in bed, hopefully sleeping, because we have an early morning tomorrow.  We are heading out sailing on Lake Michigan, touring DePaul University, heading to the Museum of Science and Industr and ending the day at the beach.

I will leave you with some photos from our adventures today!  Enjoy!